|
Dear Paul,
In the 1970s when I was staying up at Esalen in Big Sur, CA, I had my one and only Out of Body Experience. I thought it was just a lucid dream which I had had from time to time. This time I found myself on a mountain trail in the woods. As I walked along marveling at how distinct everything looked I came to a bridge across a brook where it broadened into a pool. I saw something shiny in the bottom of the pool, like a broach. I woke up when I reached for it.
About two weeks later I again went up to Esalen. This time several of us took a hiking siminar. Along the way, about one-half hour into the hike, I noticed that the trail looked very familiar. But then all trails in the woods look alike. I had forgotten about my dream. However, just around a corner we came to the brook and the bridge. Then remembering my dream, I looked for the shiny broach. And indeed there it was, just as I had remembered. It's still there. The water was too deep and cold to retrieve it. However, it did tell me that my dream was an OBE.
The interesting thing in my mind is that somehow my OBE was directed by some power to see something that I would eventually see in person. Two other people at Esalen also had OBEs, but years earlier. Whenever I meet with people who might be open to such thinking, I relate my experience and several more have told me of similar experiences.
However, the Internet has very little on OBE. I found a (witch's) how to do manual. Here is an interesting quote, relevant to some discussion on this forum:
http://www.obe-1.com/
"The more you meditate and project, the more you will hear and see signs of the astral reality even during your daily activities, especially when you're relaxed. You might hear voices, hear the ringing noise, and see flashes of light, all not indications that you are having mental, ear, or eye problems."
Early on I read several books on astral projection, its early name, thinking I might try to get OBE under control. But I noticed that the people that practiced OBE tended to die young. So I decided it was a unhealthy pursuit. But I do agree that it is the best evidence of some kind of consciousness being independent of the brain and therefore likely to survive death.
Edgar Mitchell the former astronaut ran some OBE experiments that were published in the Proceedings of the IEEE in the late 1970s where he established target sites for subjects to OBE to and then draw what they saw upon waking up. The drawings were then compared to pictures of the site. That is the only controlled experiment that I know of. The Noetic Institute run by Mitchell has probably done more, but the science establishment has closed down publication of such experiments.
Which by the way is why I wish to conceal my identity. I work in science and my credibility as a teacher of science might be suspect if it were known of my interest in OBE.
I question whether meaningful discussions of this sort can happen on this particular forum without interference from some of the posters here. But the survival of consciousness after death is perhaps the most relevant topic for a God & Science forum, so I think it is worth the try. I'll just try to keep from being distracted by all the noise I see on this forum.
Wanda |
